1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to the field of vertical lift cargo vehicles and more particularly to a vertical lift system employing one or more UAV's incorporating control and interconnection systems to cooperatively lift payloads of various sizes with the number of UAVs employed determined by the payload size.
2. Background
Vertical lift systems for moving personnel and cargo have become ubiquitous in modern military and civil transportation. Helicopters range in size from light personnel carrying machines such as the Robinson R-22 or Bell OH-58 Kiowa to very large cargo lifting vehicles such as the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion or Boeing Vertol CH-47Chinook, which are dual purpose personnel or cargo transport, or cargo dedicated vehicles such as the Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane or Kaman KMAX. Heavy lift vehicles such as the Skycrane or KMAX often provide more lift performance than necessary for smaller cargo tasks. Both large capacity cargo dedicated systems and dual purpose systems are often expensive to design, operate and maintain. It is therefore desirable to provide a vertical lift cargo system that can be matched to varying cargo lift requirements